I'm a true novice when it comes to chips, so my question is what do the chips really do, tech wise? What settings do they change and is there a down side to getting one installed? Why do you have to use 93 octane when you get one installed?

Any help would be appreciated!!!!

 

Hi Boot,

How performance chips make their power gains in these vehicles is primarily by retuning them specifically for the use of premium gas, 91 octane or higher. Using better fuel allows us to put a much better state of tune on the engine, so that you get more power, efficiency, and when you can keep your foot out of the throttle, usually a little bit better mileage (maybe 1.0-2.0 more highway mpg when cruising), provided good fuel quality. It's not going to be a "big" mileage gain by any stretch of the imagination of course, but many Superchip owners do see a small improvement in their highway mileage usually. This is just a by-product of the increased spark advance used on part-throttle as part of our performance tuning for premium gas, so your results will depend on how the vehicle is driven & maintained as well as the fuel quality being used. Actually, stock or shipped, it always pays to use the best quality fuel.

For most people using the Superchip and driving 15,000 - 20,000 miles per year, they spend about $150 or so more per year for fuel from running premium instead of regular. This assumes a 20 cent per gallon price delta between regular & premium (though ours here is only 10 cents).

All in all, what the Superchip is going to do is to give you about a 10% raw power gain, and take care of driveability issues, shift characteristics & other issues specific to the automatic models where applicable, removal various delays & retards, etc. to give you a vehicle that is more powerful, noticeably more responsive & more enjoyable & comfortable to drive, thanks to it's increased capabilities. Your engine will still be fully protected by it's rev limiters.

There is no "down side" per se in using a performance chip for those who want to improve their performance & the capabilities of their vehicle, to improve towing ability, and so many of the things that we use these Ford trucks for. The Superchip is not going to shorten the lifespan of the engine or the vehicle itself & you won't be giving up anything to use the Superchip, except the slow & sloppy factory calibrations and the ability to run on the cheapest lowest octane fuels, something that extremely few people miss once they've had a taste of how these trucks can feel.

For those who want to be able to burn regular gas, we also offer a 2-program Superchip, called the Flip Chip. We set up that unit up with a pair of optimized programs, one for 87 octane, on which the power gain is going to be small, about 5 horsepower or so, and then the other program will be our normal performance program for premium gas, which yields normally about a 10% power gain. (For example, on the 1999 & up 260 hp version of the 5.4 F-150, maximum gain from the Superchip is rated at 28 horsepower & 46 lbs./ft. of torque, SAE Net at the flywheel) This is an elegant solution for those who want to have an optimized program for either level of octane available at the flip of the attached switch.

Basically, what the Superchip does is to put a state of tune on the engine for the use of good quality premium gas, take care of a number of specific driveabiity issues that we've found over the years in these vehicles, and to make the vehicle more powerful, more capable & responsive, and just plain more fun to drive overall.

If you'd like to go over this in more detail, we'll be happy to, just give us a call at our number listed below.

Best of luck with your truck,